


I like me better when I'm with you

by FlCWRITES



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:54:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27263818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlCWRITES/pseuds/FlCWRITES
Summary: Seokmin was perfect to everyone besides him and nobody had been able to make him think otherwise. At least not until her.
Relationships: Lee Seokmin | DK/Reader
Kudos: 4





	I like me better when I'm with you

**Author's Note:**

> the blank space is where you put your name :>

It was no surprise that everyone liked Seokmin.

Seokmin was a model student with constantly high grades who respected his teachers and peers. He was always the MVP during his baseball games. Not to mention his kind demeanor combined with his dreamy looks that made seniors, juniors, and batchmates, both male and female, swoon whenever he walked by. The boy's angelic voice that they got to hear during the school's annual music festival was a divine addition to his existence.

Everyone wanted to be his friend if they didn't want him to be their boyfriend.

But there was something Seokmin tried his best to hide from everyone: **his shockingly low confidence in himself.**

Even if his teachers told him he was the best, he felt as if it still wasn't enough.

Even if his coach called him "the team's most promising MVP", he felt as if all the mistakes he had ever committed made him less of a player.

Even if people praised him after every song performance, he would inwardly berate himself for not reaching the right notes.

And even if countless girls (and some boys) confessed their love and admiration to him, he always politely turned them down because he didn't think he was worth it.

In other words, _Seokmin hated himself._

On one afternoon, Seokmin was feeling particularly down. His vocal practice that morning didn't go as well as he wanted and the last class happened to be the class that would give his dreaded quiz results back.

He tapped his pencil against the table, obviously restless, when the teacher came in with a bunch of papers in hand. She handed the papers to the class president who started going around the room and handing each student their respective paper. A glimpse of the red grading ink made Seokmin's breath hitch. The moment he got his paper he flipped it to the side without the score. He slowly lifted it to take a peek. A big red 95 was enclosed in a circle. He groaned in frustration.

 _I'm such an idiot. Why didn't I get a higher score?_ He berated himself inwardly. The boy didn't notice his seatmate peeking at his score until she gasped so loud that he jumped. He whipped his head in her direction to be met the most beautiful set of twinkly and surprised eyes he had ever seen. It took him a few seconds to collect himself. He must have looked so shocked because the girl immediately apologized.

"How do you always get such high scores? It would be a miracle if that happened to me," she exclaimed. Seokmin looked away. There was nothing special about his score if he couldn't even get that one simple question right. "It's not that high, i didn't even get the easiest question right." he grumbled as he folded the piece of paper and shoved it into his backpack.

The girl shook her head. "I beg to differ, sir if you get most of it right then one little question doesn't matter because whether you got that question or not you still scored high," she said sassily, waving her index finger in circles in front of his face. He smiled at her gestures. They had been seatmates since the year started and he realized that he didn't even know her name. He found it odd that he didn't notice her before.

She told him her name was _____.

And unlike Seokmin, _____ was confident about his talents.

Whenever he would bring himself down she made it her job to pull him back up. _____ would pat his back and pretend to award him a medal whenever he got back a quiz, no matter what the score was (though since this is Seokmin we're talking about they were never very low). She went to his baseball practices and cheered for his team during games. She stayed by his side when he practiced his song performances, calming him down when he got too frustrated in his voice and buying him lemon tea to soothe his throat and would sneak backstage to wish him luck even if she would always get in trouble. During lunch she would tease him endlessly about the number of juice boxes and cookies admirers would leave on his table, saying that he was basically a celebrity and should be paid for just existing.

To Seokmin's surprise, her encouragement worked. He became more positive and less hard on himself. The boy started to become more forgiving when he made mistakes and calmly start over or promise to do better next time. He liked it when she complimented him, encouraged him. To be honest, he liked just being with her in general. Her soft warm glow made him feel fuzzy inside. He liked himself when he was with her. She made him feel like he was enough. **And that just being enough was okay.**

Those kinds of compliments used to not work on him. It didn't matter who tried and how they did them, those kinds of thing just didn't work on Seokmin. So his friends, parents, and mentors were just as surprised as he was when they noticed him smiling at his quiz paper or being so calm after committing a mistake in practice.

There was just one problem.

His friend Mingyu was the one who pointed it out to him. The way he would glare at anyone she was friendly with and grit his teeth when he heard her laugh with someone else so he would try to take her attention. When he would shake his leg in annoyance when she was taking too long in telling the boy in front of her that he did well. He would stare at her until she noticed him or when he would be irritable during the days when she couldn't attend his practices. Seokmin couldn't keep his composure when that happened.

"You have a very serious disease, Seok," Mingyu said one day during lunch as he watched his friend stare at _____ from their table. "And what would that disease be Dr. Kim?" Seokmin mocked him, laughing. Mingyu looked him in the eye, serious all of a sudden.

"Jealousy."

 _Jealousy?_ Was he jealous? His mind went back to the times he would fight others for her attention. When he got annoyed if she looked at someone else. _____ was _his_ friend not their's; of course he would be jealous.

The "disease" Mingyu had diagnosed him got worse when Seokmin and _____ finally exchanged cell phone numbers. A day didn't feel complete if he didn't receive a goodnight text from her or if he didn't get a reply after asking if she had already gotten home after school. He would smile at his phone so much that his brothers had started to tease him.

"Momma I think Seokmin has a crush on his phone." his baby brother Chan reported to their mother one night while they were cleaning up after dinner. She merely smiled and lifted the toddler to sit on the counter.

"You don't even know what a crush is." Seokmin retorted. The younger pouted and crossed his arms in defeat. "I know what a crush is and that is exactly what you have." their eldest brother Jihoon said as he entered the kitchen. The toddler stuck his tongue out to Seokmin who returned the gesture. Their mom gave the older boy a look that made him take back the action. As soon as she had gone up the stairs and disappeared into the master bedroom, Jihoon grilled his brother for information.

"Who is it?" Jihoon asked, he and Chan both intently stared at him. The poor boy held up his hands. "I don't like her that way."

Seokmin poured out his thoughts to his brothers, who were kind enough to just listen (though Jihoon had to cover Chan's mouth a couple of times to prevent him from interjecting). He told them about the day he first noticed her and the days that followed. The times he would smile because she complimented him. The days he felt like he was on top of the clouds with joy because she said that he looked nice that day. How he never felt that way when anyone else said those words but it was different when she was the one saying it. How a few seconds of looking at her made him feel funny inside.

As he talked, he began to realize what was happening to him. What that warm fuzzy feeling in his chest meant.

"Dude, I think I do like her."

Jihoon chuckled as he lifted a sleepy baby Chan from the counter, carefully cradling his brother in his arms. "Took you long enough."

Seokmin couldn't sleep that night. _Why on earth would he like her?_ She just gave him compliments and smiled at him. There were a lot of other people who did that.

So why did he seek her attention?

Why did he feel so happy when she talked to him?

Why did he want her all to himself?

Why did he like himself better when he was with her?

He opened his phone and scrolled through her messages, unconsciously smiling. Mingyu misdiagnosed him, the disease he had wasn't jealousy. He knew that wasn't it. He had a different disease. But he couldn't quite put a finger in what it was.

On the other side of the wall, Jihoon had already figured out what was happening to his brother. As he tucked Chan into bed he smiled to himself. Little Seokmin was growing up. He walked to the door to turn off the light when he heard Chan moving under his blanket.

"Why is Seokmin always smiling at his phone?" the little boy said, sitting up and sleepily rubbing his eyes. Jihoon laughed and pushed him back into bed.

**_"Seokmin's in love."_ **

**Author's Note:**

> hiii!! comments and kudos are very much appreciated ;3 thank you for reading!


End file.
